The number of landlords with properties in Outer London reporting increasing tenant demand has surged over the last three months, says Paragon Bank.
The lender says, 85% of landlords who let homes in Outer London said that they had seen increases in tenant demand in the second quarter of the year compared to the previous quarter, making it the area with the highest net increase in tenant demand in the UK.
This compares with 79% of landlords in Outer London who reported rises in tenant demand in the first quarter of the year, according to the lender’s latest quarterly Private Rented Sector Trends report.
The survey adds that despite the South West topping the country as the region with the highest proportion of landlords reporting ‘strong’ demand currently, at 90%, the biggest increase of tenant demand this year is in the proportion of landlords managing properties in the capital’s outer boroughs, rising to 85% in the second quarter from 72% in the first quarter.
It says this move “illustrates the strong performance of the Outer London private rental market since the first quarter of the year”.
The report also points to the incidence of voids, which has fallen dramatically over the last year in the area.
In the second quarter of 2021, 35% of Outer London landlords reported that they had experienced an empty property within the last three months, the second highest region in the UK behind the North East, according to a survey of over 700 landlords by data group BVA BDRC.
A year on, the second quarter of this year has seen this figure fall to 21%, with only landlords in the West Midlands less likely to have reported a void.
Paragon Bank mortgages managing director Richard Rowntree says: “We know that the private rental market in London was hit particularly hard by the Covid-19 pandemic but has rebounded strongly since and these latest figures provide further evidence of this.”
“As one of the world’s greatest cities, London is extremely dynamic, constantly evolving as a diverse mix of people come and go, calling it home as they study, work, travel or raise families. This is why it is important for the capital to have a thriving private rented sector, enabling people to benefit from the flexibility that rented homes provide.”
